Not that they seem picky at the moment...
I want to improve Billy's health. That is the guiding principle.
But the space between that statement and what I choose to do to make that happen is wide and full of little distracting critters and oddity.
Maybe if I tease it out here, I can make some decisions that will make actual sense.
I've read some very convincing books, along with a pile of kooky nonsense.
The ones I was convinced by seem very credible... here there are:
- Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders
- Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians
- The Puzzle of Autism: Putting It All Together
All good, solid, easy to understand, doctor-y stuff.
We completely de-chemical-ed our lives, eat as much organic food and drink only pure (RO) water. But that's pretty much where my biomed journey stalled.
We shunned 'the diet' (GF/CF) for a long time. But, Billy definitely handles dairy badly. When he was much younger and addicted to 'Thomas' milk (milk with Thomas the Tank Engine on the tetra pack), he would often randomly vomit. Always after milk. He also had shocking, unexplainable bouts of constipation that ended in a diagnosis of megacolon. Not an anime villain, a truly debilitating bowel condition that took a LOT of work to turn around. A tip for new players, do not Google megacolon, because the Google image results will never leave your mind's eye.
So dairy is gone. Which means a calcium supplement at least. Our biomed dr recommended a good Calcium/Magnesium liquid, which is great as a combo, especially because magnesium is really good for general calming and for hearing sensitivity. So, we have it. Unopened.
Let me mention here that I would love to get gluten out of our lives too. And as I type I think I sound so lame... get gluten out of your life. Just do it, right?
We have a great ASD multivitamin powder. Unopened.
We have Cod Liver Oil + D. Unopened.
And b12 drops, because I'm too chicken to do the shots. Also, surprisingly... unopened.
Why am I wasting all this money on expensive supplements and not using them?
Because it's such a crap shoot. Because he has such awful reactions. Because every time we start any supps, he does well for a while and then he gets sick and then we have to stop until he gets better. Because we have spent so long getting toilet habits working right, I ate when we throw something into the mix that upsets his stomach and risks random poos at school.
Because I am so sick of sick.
And yet, I know he's not as healthy as he could be. He's not functioning at any where near optimum level. He could be doing so much better than he is, health and brain function-wise.
So... just do it.
I read about all these brave autism mothers who watch their children turn into the anti-christ as they fight off yeast and all sorts of stuff, and I die a little inside. I know I don't have the courage or the faith to put Billy through that. Even thought I'm well aware the outcome could be amazing.
I just have to bite the bullet, right?
I know I do.
I just wasted two weeks of school holidays not giving him the supplements in a place where it wouldn't matter if he pooped at the wrong time.
Gah! Just do it, Foley.
But then, look where that got Tiger...
